SURFACE TERMS

Belleayre Mountain endeavors to inspect trails and report conditions consistent with terminology descriptive of surface condition(s) developed by the New York Ski Industry Association, Ski Areas of New York, Inc. (Note these surface conditions may result from natural or machine made snow or both) as follows:

Bare Spots - Areas of exposed underlying trail surface, not covered with sufficient amounts of any form of snow, ice or other skiable material. No skier should attempt to ski over or through any bare spot or spots.

Corn Snow - Large ice-like granules which are loose during above freezing temperatures and which freezes together during below freezing temperatures. Corn snow is usually a product of the above/below freezing cycle of temperatures typical of spring days. Large ice-like granules which remain frozen together in extended cold periods, or chunks of ice created by incomplete grooming or icy surfaces are not characteristic of corn snow.

Frozen Granular - Granular snow which was once wet and which has frozen together forming a rather solid or crusty-textured surface. It can return to loose granular after thawing or being worked by a grooming machine, or from the effects of skier traffic breaking up the crust. Frozen granular snow will support a ski pole stuck into it. However, if the pole makes ice chips and the surface will not support the pole, the surface is icy.

Hard Pack - Hard pack snow is a dense snow condition harder than packed powder and softer than ice.

Icy Patches/Icy Surfaces - Ice represents a hard, glazed surface usually created by freezing rain or old surface snow melting and quickly re-freezing again or by ground water seeping up into the snow and freezing. Also may describe a very wet surface that has been skied into a smooth surface while above-freezing temperatures are existent and then rapidly dropping temperatures occur. When broken, ice breaks into chunks rather than granules. "Patches" describe localized occurrences of "ice" "surface" describes a more prevailing icy condition on the trail.

Loose Granular - Loose granules similar to rock salt, usually formed after a powder snow thaws, re-freezes and crystallizes; or an accumulation of sleet. Loose granular also may characterize surface conditions produced by machine conditioning of frozen granular or icy surfaces.

Machine Groomed - A term always used in adjunct to another reported condition. It defines a surface that has been prepared, manipulated or groomed by mechanical means. Example: MGPP Machine Groomed Packed Powder

Mogul - The result of a surface that has not been prepared, manipulated or groomed by any mechanical means.

Powder - New snow generally of a dry and fluffy consistency. Will not make a snowball easily.

Packed Powder - Loose powder snow compacted by rollers, drags or other mechanical apparatus or by means of skier traffic, to a state which leaves little air space between particles. It is no longer fluffy, but it is not so extremely compacted that it is hard and icy.

Roto-tilled - A surface definition that specifically results when the snow is prepared in a certain manner. A roto-tiller operates by scarifying the snow surface; in doing so it lays down a new surface of uniform regularity.

Spring Conditions - This term is used to characterize the wide variety of surface conditions which result from the alternate freezing and thawing of snow cover in the spring weather. This term in used in place of other terms when the usual surface descriptions can not accurately or completely describe the situation; that is when no single surface type covers at least 50% of the skiable surface of a trail.

Thin Cover - Indicates that the cover that currently exists will decline in quality due to skier traffic and break through to the underlying trail surface. "Thin Cover" indicates that bare spots are anticipated to develop in the area during the day.

Variable - A wide variety of conditions which can not accurately or completely be described using usual terminology, such as when no single surface type predominates.

Wet Granular - Loose or frozen granular snow which has become wet after a thaw or from a rainfall.

Wet Powder - Powder snow that is wet when it falls, (you can easily make a snowball), or dry powder that becomes wet as the temperature rises above freezing or is dampened by rain.

Ski Free on Your Birthday!
If your birthday falls during the ski season Nov* - April* , Ski Free on your birthday. If your birthday is in the off season, follow the dates below.
May - Your birthdate in Dec.
June - Your birthdate in Jan.
July - Your birthdate in Jan.
Aug.* - Your birthdate in Feb.
Sept.* - Your birthdate in Feb.
Oct. - Your birthdate in March
* Nov.- If your birthday is before we open for the season, ski free in March on your birth date. April - We have a tentative closing day of April 15th. If your birthday is April 16 -30 ski for free in Dec on your birthdate. If we close before your birthday we will be happy to send you a free ticket for 2007/08. Call for details. If your birthday is Aug. 29-31 or Sept. 29-30, ski free on Feb. 28th. Please bring photo ID with your birthdate.